ὄμμα

Forms

ὄμμᾰ (ómma) n (genitive ὄμμᾰτος); third declension^[1] Aeolic ὄππα (óppa) (Sappho), and ὄθμα (óthma) (Callimachus, Nicander).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *ókʷmə (“look, glance”),^[1] a verbal noun in -μα (-ma) from the root ὀπ- “see” of ὄπωπα (ópōpa) and ὄψομαι (ópsomai),^[2][1] from Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ- (“to see”).^[5][1] The /mm/ comes from *ὄπμα (*ópma) by assimilation; the Aeolic ὄππα (óppa) shows the opposite, progressive assimilation.^[2][1][6] The rare ὄθμα (óthma) arose by dissimilation according to Frisk, while Chantraine took it as an artificial form in -θμα (-thma).^[2]

As a verbal noun it would first have meant “look, glance”, but Beekes notes that it may also be an enlargement of the root noun seen in the dual ὄσσε (ósse) “the two eyes”; ὀφθαλμός (ophthalmós) is unrelated.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer and Hesiod use only the plural, for the eyes: a speaker fixes his eyes on the ground, and Athena pours sleep on someone's eyes.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

It is a poetic word, rare in prose (Thucydides, Plato, Xenophon); the singular appears in Pindar and tragedy.^[3] Besides the eye, it meant a look or glance, a sight or appearance, and the eye or face as showing a person's feelings: in Sophocles one is “radiant in look”, and to look someone “with straight eyes” is to face them.^[4][3] Figuratively the sun is the eye of the heavens or of the day, and the darkness the eye of night; the king's presence is the eye of a palace; a beloved person is a light and comfort.^[4]

Plato speaks of the “eye of the soul”, a phrase that Philo and early Christian writers repeat, and in the Gospels it is the bodily eye.^[7] The diminutive ὀμμάτιον (ommátion) (Aristotle) gave Medieval and Modern Greek μάτι (máti, “eye”).^[2][6] Modern Greek uses the old forms only in a few learned phrases.^[8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use the plural for the eyes.^[3][4]
• 7th–6th century BC – Sappho has the Aeolic form ὄππα (óppa).^[3][2][9]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses the singular.^[3][9]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles and Euripides call the sun or the dawn an eye.^[4][9]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato speaks of the eye of the soul.^[7][9]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses the diminutive ὀμμάτιον (ommátion).^[2][9]
• 1st century AD – The Gospels use it for the bodily eyes.^[7]
• Modern Greek – The word for the eye, Modern Greek μάτι (máti), continues the diminutive.^[6][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A look, glance, gaze.^[4][3]
2. A sight, visual appearance, image.^[4]
3. The eye, as the organ of sight.^[4][3][7]
4. The eye or face, as showing feelings or character.^[4][3]
5. (figurative) The eye of the heavens or of the day, the sun; the eye of night, darkness; the light of a lamp.^[4]
6. (figurative) The most precious part of a place, its glory.^[4]
7. (figurative) A source of joy or comfort, said of a beloved person.^[4]
8. (Koine) The eye of the soul.^[7]

Word family

• δυσόμματος (dusómmatos)
• μονόμματος (monómmatos)
• τετρόμματος (tetrómmatos)
• ὀμμάτιον (ommátion)
• ὀμματόω (ommatóō)

Related words

• ὄσσε (ósse)
• ὄπωπα (ópōpa)
• Modern Greek μάτι (máti)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
7. ^ a b c d e Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
8. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge